Changelings
Changelings Episode Number: Season 6, Episode 9 Directed By: Mairzee Almas Air Date: November 27, 2016 Previous Episode: I'll Be Your Mirror Next Episode Wish You Were Here "Changelings" is the ninth episode of Season 6 of the American fairytale/drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on November 27, 2016. In this episode, Belle's pregnancy is sped up, and Aladdin becomes a genie. In flashbacks, Rumplestiltskin confronts his mother, The Black Fairy, for abandoning him. Plot 'Opening Sequence' A swing set from the Dream World is featured in the forest. 'Event Chronology' The Enchanted Forest events take place some time after "Lacey", and before Belle is banished from Rumplestiltskin's castle in "Skin Deep". The Dream World events take place after "The Savior". The Storybrooke events take place after "I'll Be Your Mirror" 'In the Character's Past' At Rumplestiltskin's castle, Belle is stunned to see Rumplestiltskin bring a child back with him, but as she asks questions, he makes her stop before he leaves again. While reading "Her Handsome Hero", Belle calms the baby down as she plots to track down the parents. Belle enters his secret room and deciphers a scroll with an incantation, but Rumple finds her, locks Belle in the room and disappears with the baby. She is then rescued by The Blue Fairy, who enlists Belle to save the child before he can use it as a way to seek revenge on The Black Fairy, who, like Rumple, is known to take children. That night in the forest, with the incantation, Rumple summons The Black Fairy and places squid ink on her. He questions her about abandoning babies, and she suddenly realized that the baby he is referring to was Rumplestiltskin himself, as it turns out that he is her son. Moments later, The Black Fairy overcomes the effect of the squid ink, and leaves Rumplestiltskin guessing about why she abandoned him. Later on, Belle returns the baby back to a couple, revealed to be Jack and Jill, as Rumplestiltskin watches. 'Storybrooke' In the present day at an undisclosed location, Gold chases down and captured a nun, and The Evil Queen has shown up to witness what he planned to do to her, as she is aware of his hatred towards fairies. As Gold reminds The Evil Queen that she is supposed to kill Zelena on his behalf, he proceeds to toss magical dust on the fairy, causing her to age immediately, which he wants to serve as a message to the fairies. This has Belle more worried after seeing the aged nun and knowing that he'll use everything to take their child away. While doing research on how to stop Gold, Belle comes across a "Manual on Defeating the Dark One" book and as she opens it; a red string appears on the floor that matches the page on the book and she followed it to her son, who tells her the answer was in front of her, and suddenly wakes up on top of the book, realizing that she was dreaming while researching for the answer. In the meantime, Jasmine tells Snow that she is nervous about the lamp, assuming that a genie's magic could help her find Agrabah but fears what the genie will want in return. She decides to summon the genie anyway, but when she rubs the lamp, all that comes out are two cuffs, implying that the genie was freed. Aladdin then puts the cuffs on, turning himself into a genie instead. Around the same time, The Evil Queen confronted Zelena and is ready to kill her, but is stopped by Regina, who not only takes the heart away from her other half, but tells her that Gold is using her. Regina allowed the The Evil Queen to get away for now as she is aware that her heart has a dark hole inside of her. Even after saving Zelena's life, Regina, still upset over Robin's death, can't forgive her, while The Evil Queen confronted Gold, and the partnership dissolves between them. The book that Belle slept on captures the attention of Hook as the book is written in Squid ink, and suggests that he and Emma take care of the situation. When they arrived to the pawn shop, Hook provoked Gold's anger to allow Emma to use the ink on him. However, just as they were searching the shop, Emma's visions resurfaced and her hand started to shake again, and when they checked on Gold, he disappeared, ready to confront Belle with the aging dust, telling her that he thinks their son may be the only person who could ever love him and is willing to do anything to steal their child from her. However, Gold started having second thoughts after Belle tells him that she might also lose him forever. At Granny's, Belle, Emma, and Hook have a conversation. As Emma tells Hook that a new vision involving her death has appeared, Belle drops her mug on the ground, revealing that the tea she was drinking was a spell, which causes her pregnancy to accelerate and she goes into labor. As Emma and the fairies help Belle deliver, she finds herself again in the Dream World talking to her son, who gives his mother a message, “you know what you must do." As Belle successfully delivers the baby, she asked Mother Superior to make a request to be his fairy godmother and to take him far away from Storybrooke, where he will be safe from Gold. Belle then named her son; Gideon in honor of her favorite book hero before Mother Superior sends the child away. When Gold, who was prevented to enter by a protection spell placed on the nunnery by Emma and the Fairies until the baby was delivered, arrived to see his son, he became furious with her as she refused to tell him what his name was and where he went, but vows to find him. When Gold returns to his shop, The Evil Queen is waiting and tells him that she was responsible placing the spell in Belle’s tea that resulted in her pregnancy to accelerate. The Evil Queen tells Gold that he just “made an enemy” of her, but he countered that she is merely a pawn in his game and vows to get even, but not before she leaves with a message about the way "Fairies make great mothers" (now that she knows about The Black Fairy being Gold's mother), then he throws everything to the ground. Finally, after Hook tells her that Regina reversed the aging spell on the nun, Emma tells Hook that she feels stronger than ever, ready to confront her vision, returned to the shop, where she finds the sword that will kill her in her vision and takes it. Cast Starring *Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard *Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan *Lana Parrilla as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills *Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan/Prince James *Emilie de Ravin as Belle *Colin O'Donoghue as Hook *Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills *Rebecca Mader as The Wicked Witch/Zelena *Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring *Deniz Akdeniz as Aladdin *Karen David as Jasmine *Giles Matthey as Gideon *Beverley Elliot as Granny *Keegan Connor Tracy as The Blue Fairy/Mother Superior *Jaime Murray as The Black Fairy Trivia Production Notes= *The title card features the Dream World's swing set. *The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on September 28, 2016. *Jaime Murray is misspelled as "Jamie", instead of "Jaime" in the press release. *The establishing shot of the Dark Castle is stock footage from Belle's Dream World in "The Savior". *In Belle's dream, she mentions Hildrew as the author of the book Manual on Defeating the Dark One. This is a reference to Geofrey Hildrew, one of the editors on the show, who also directed the episode "The Bear King". Belle also mentions a book called Treatise on the Metaphysics of Magic by "Goldman", a reference to Mark Goldman, also an editor on the show, and the one who provided the voice of Sven. Another book mentioned in the dream is The White Sorcerer's Way by "Talbot", a reference to Joe Talbot Hall, another editor on the show. *The episode script contains a segment where Emma asks, "You sure about that?", and Belle answers, "He still loves me." This segment is not in the final episode. *In the episode script, Belle describes Fairy language as ancient, and says that almost no one knows it. She also says that her mother taught her some when she was young. *Granny serves Belle a cup of chamomile tea that "soothes the soul", and Hook comments on how it helps calm the nerves. Unbeknownst to Granny, however, the tea has been dosed with aging powder that accelerates Belle's pregnancy and causes her to go into labor. Chamomile, an old medical herb, can actually be used to reduce stress, and has been stated to have a soothing and calming effect. However, the consumption of too much chamomile can lead to a miscarriage, or a premature birth. *Nick Hunnings, who portrays Jack, also portrays the Prison Guard in "The Cricket Game".